Thursday, February 17, 2005
Blogburst for Terri: Some Thoughts on Why This Is Happening Part 3
One of the strange things about this case is that one would think that the Liberal Left would be solidly behind Terri Schiavo. She is a handicapped women who was mentally and possibly even physically abused. In fact blogger Dean Esmay initially was so put off by the rhetoric directed against Michael that he suspected it was the kind of "misandrism" that used to be typical of the feminist left. But abortion and pornography have eroded the moral impetus of feminism and I'm not aware of any feminists who have come out in support of Terri. Meanwhile Dean has become a strong supporter.
Similarly, we would expect the Mainstream Media to jump at a story with such man-bashing potential. But the media has often been biased against and even hostile to Terri's case. Terri's family has tried to document the bias of the St Petersburg Times in the their own area.
Here's a selection of some headlines with excerpts that the St Pete Times ran on Terri's story, and I'll let the reader decide if there is an agenda there.
November 7, 2004: Time to let Terri go
It is a desperate claim raised solely to continue gaming the system. As long as the litigation stays alive, Terri Schiavo can be forced to continue her vegetative existence...It is past time for the courts to end this family's tragedy and allow Terri Schiavo the peaceful end her husband believes she would have wanted.
May 1, 2004: At Pope’s word, new Schiavo Cases?
But Father John Paris, Walsh professor of bioethics at Boston College, said the pope's remarks were tailored to a specific audience and will have little impact. "I think the best thing to do is ignore it, and it will go away," Paris said. "It's not an authoritative teaching statement."
January 10, 2004: Look At The Person Attached to the Tube
Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and legal guardian, consented to 10 years of medical life support and rehabilitation attempts that failed to improve Schiavo's condition. Finally, convinced that his wife would not want to be kept alive in such a degraded condition, with so little hope of recovery, Schiavo went to court to request that his wife's feeding tube be withdrawn so that she could be allowed to die.
(Terri has not received 10 years of rehabilitation attempts. This article was penned by James M. Hoefler, who is the author of "Managing Death".)
December 4, 2003: A Wise Voice Pierces Bitter Din of Schiavo Case
But when I put the question to the Schindlers' lawyer, Pat Anderson, and asked if she would be bound by the results of the swallowing tests, she said she wasn't prepared to answer. That should tell you something. It looks likely that what's good enough for one side is not good enough for the other.
November 23, 2003: Schiavo Clash is Rooted in Cash
"I think one might conclude looking at the facts that a possible motivation on the part of the Schindlers is revenge," said Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, referring to the Schindlers' opposition to Schiavo's decision to pull his wife's feeding tube. "I certainly hope that's not true."
October 28, 2003: If Byrd Flies North, Will Mischief go with Him?
Last week, Byrd led the charge in the state House to overturn five years of court rulings and reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. If the religious right were in charge, the Senate wouldn't have been enough. They'd have beatified Johnnie right then and there.
October 23, 2003: Schiavo's life confiscated by agendas of strangers
If I were a newspaper cartoonist, my drawing this week would be of Terri Schiavo in a hospital bed. Her husband, Michael, would be holding her hands, while others - the governor, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd or her parents - pull at her feet.
September 28, 2003: As Schiavo debate rages, others play their hands
On a Web site dedicated to her, you can find court records and other information. There is a report of a bone scan that the lawyer for Schiavo's parents uses to claim Schiavo was (?) affidavits from a few nursing assistants who cared for Schiavo who said her husband purposely mistreated her or withheld treatment... Read those things and you get the impression they're facts.
September 25, 2003: Let Schiavo fade away, as so many others do
There is nothing unusual about denying medical treatment to the terminally ill who don't want their lives prolonged. Withholding food and water is one way to accommodate them.
September 21, 2003: Crusade is blind to hard facts of medicine
Which do you believe? One of several physicians who have looked at this case, or a lawyer who seems to lump the doctors into some nefarious cabal?
August 28, 2003: Governor as guardian - in whose interests?
The governor of Florida is incapable of keeping his nose, and his lawyers, out of places where they don't belong... He'd stay out of the pathetic fight over Schiavo..
To be fair these are all op-ed pieces and the ones I could find were the work of Mary Jo Melone. To put it mildly, Mary Jo Melone has a big chip on her shoulder for Christian conservatives and pro-lifers. And she also defended Sami al Arian until this column:
For a long time, I have defended Sami Al-Arian.
The former University of South Florida professor indicted last February deserves the chance the law gives him to reply to his indictment in federal court, I said. We should stand by until the charges against him - that he is the leader of a U.S. faction of a Palestinian terrorist group and one of its chief fundraisers - can be aired.
But the government released an outline of some of its evidence last week, and it is no longer possible to simply look away.
"Look the other way"? Mary Jo, is that shorthand for clinging to your agenda until the evidence becomes so overwhelming that it's indefensible? I give you credit for admitting you were wrong in the al Arian case, but you are certainly looking the other way by claiming that Terri is in a vegetative state despite the testimony given by care providers at the risk of their own livelihoods.
As firmly entrenched in her anti-faith, pro-abortion stance as she is, she sees too many of her foes on Terri's side, so when facts are presented, she looks the other way. Could she really have seen this video and claimed with a straight face that Terri is in a vegetative state?
Whether it was regarding terrorists like al Arian or the advocates of euthanasia, Ms Melone, like much of the Mainstream Media she represents, time and again throws her support behind the Cult of Death.
Similarly, we would expect the Mainstream Media to jump at a story with such man-bashing potential. But the media has often been biased against and even hostile to Terri's case. Terri's family has tried to document the bias of the St Petersburg Times in the their own area.
Here's a selection of some headlines with excerpts that the St Pete Times ran on Terri's story, and I'll let the reader decide if there is an agenda there.
November 7, 2004: Time to let Terri go
It is a desperate claim raised solely to continue gaming the system. As long as the litigation stays alive, Terri Schiavo can be forced to continue her vegetative existence...It is past time for the courts to end this family's tragedy and allow Terri Schiavo the peaceful end her husband believes she would have wanted.
May 1, 2004: At Pope’s word, new Schiavo Cases?
But Father John Paris, Walsh professor of bioethics at Boston College, said the pope's remarks were tailored to a specific audience and will have little impact. "I think the best thing to do is ignore it, and it will go away," Paris said. "It's not an authoritative teaching statement."
January 10, 2004: Look At The Person Attached to the Tube
Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and legal guardian, consented to 10 years of medical life support and rehabilitation attempts that failed to improve Schiavo's condition. Finally, convinced that his wife would not want to be kept alive in such a degraded condition, with so little hope of recovery, Schiavo went to court to request that his wife's feeding tube be withdrawn so that she could be allowed to die.
(Terri has not received 10 years of rehabilitation attempts. This article was penned by James M. Hoefler, who is the author of "Managing Death".)
December 4, 2003: A Wise Voice Pierces Bitter Din of Schiavo Case
But when I put the question to the Schindlers' lawyer, Pat Anderson, and asked if she would be bound by the results of the swallowing tests, she said she wasn't prepared to answer. That should tell you something. It looks likely that what's good enough for one side is not good enough for the other.
November 23, 2003: Schiavo Clash is Rooted in Cash
"I think one might conclude looking at the facts that a possible motivation on the part of the Schindlers is revenge," said Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, referring to the Schindlers' opposition to Schiavo's decision to pull his wife's feeding tube. "I certainly hope that's not true."
October 28, 2003: If Byrd Flies North, Will Mischief go with Him?
Last week, Byrd led the charge in the state House to overturn five years of court rulings and reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. If the religious right were in charge, the Senate wouldn't have been enough. They'd have beatified Johnnie right then and there.
October 23, 2003: Schiavo's life confiscated by agendas of strangers
If I were a newspaper cartoonist, my drawing this week would be of Terri Schiavo in a hospital bed. Her husband, Michael, would be holding her hands, while others - the governor, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd or her parents - pull at her feet.
September 28, 2003: As Schiavo debate rages, others play their hands
On a Web site dedicated to her, you can find court records and other information. There is a report of a bone scan that the lawyer for Schiavo's parents uses to claim Schiavo was (?) affidavits from a few nursing assistants who cared for Schiavo who said her husband purposely mistreated her or withheld treatment... Read those things and you get the impression they're facts.
September 25, 2003: Let Schiavo fade away, as so many others do
There is nothing unusual about denying medical treatment to the terminally ill who don't want their lives prolonged. Withholding food and water is one way to accommodate them.
September 21, 2003: Crusade is blind to hard facts of medicine
Which do you believe? One of several physicians who have looked at this case, or a lawyer who seems to lump the doctors into some nefarious cabal?
August 28, 2003: Governor as guardian - in whose interests?
The governor of Florida is incapable of keeping his nose, and his lawyers, out of places where they don't belong... He'd stay out of the pathetic fight over Schiavo..
To be fair these are all op-ed pieces and the ones I could find were the work of Mary Jo Melone. To put it mildly, Mary Jo Melone has a big chip on her shoulder for Christian conservatives and pro-lifers. And she also defended Sami al Arian until this column:
For a long time, I have defended Sami Al-Arian.
The former University of South Florida professor indicted last February deserves the chance the law gives him to reply to his indictment in federal court, I said. We should stand by until the charges against him - that he is the leader of a U.S. faction of a Palestinian terrorist group and one of its chief fundraisers - can be aired.
But the government released an outline of some of its evidence last week, and it is no longer possible to simply look away.
"Look the other way"? Mary Jo, is that shorthand for clinging to your agenda until the evidence becomes so overwhelming that it's indefensible? I give you credit for admitting you were wrong in the al Arian case, but you are certainly looking the other way by claiming that Terri is in a vegetative state despite the testimony given by care providers at the risk of their own livelihoods.
As firmly entrenched in her anti-faith, pro-abortion stance as she is, she sees too many of her foes on Terri's side, so when facts are presented, she looks the other way. Could she really have seen this video and claimed with a straight face that Terri is in a vegetative state?
Whether it was regarding terrorists like al Arian or the advocates of euthanasia, Ms Melone, like much of the Mainstream Media she represents, time and again throws her support behind the Cult of Death.
papijoe 1:00 PM
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